I have 1500 board feet of 6 inch white oak that I am currently planing to 3/4 inch thickness. What is the best method of forming both the tongue and grooves. I have a 1 1/2 hp router. Are there router bits available. If so where can I find them. I have been looking and so far I have not seen anything.

Thanks, Don

Iwould set up the table saw .

T&G ing 1500 ft of planks with a router will take forever. They make "cutters" for table saws that will mill T&G's. You'll need a good sturdy table saw, an out feed roller, a good fence on the saw and a couple of feather boards to keep the material tight to the fence. Here's one Sear's sells:

http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_1260 ... Name=Tools

And the cutters:

http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_1260 ... %26+Shaper

Of course, your other option is a shaper with the correct cutters. A 1.5 hp router is way under powered plus you would need to make at least two passes for each T&G. Use a shaper or table saw.

Thanks Gary, However upon further research it appears that the Sears T&G bits you referred me to are not compatible with the Sears 7 Inch cutter head.

Apparently there are no T&G bits available for the cutter head. (See reviews for T&G and Cutter head)

Surely there must be some way to cut T&G for 3/4 inch flooring without having to purchase an expensive wood shaper. I guess I could set up a dado on my table saw and do several passes. I was hoping for an easier solution. Any other ideas out there?

Thanks Don

Well if you dont come up with any brilliant ideas, you could always groove both edges and use spline. BTW I am mostly joking with this. I dont think I wouls rely on splines to install 1500 ft of wide plank floor.

A shaper is definitely the way to go here. Couls pay for itself if your raw material was cheap enough.

Well, that stinks. I thought the two went together. Why does Sears make the one that doesn't work with the other? Perhaps someone else makes a molding cutter head for a table saw.

Try
Mike's Tools
714-558-8360
mikestools.com

This may or may not help you out.

http://www.mlcswoodworking.com/shopsite ... roove.html

austin..this might sound dumb but what do you put those bits in? i use a table saw when i have to do it but i like the way it sounds in my head to use a bit. is it faster? more accurate?

Many bit makers have tongue and groove router bits. I can't believe you can't find any. I assume you plan to use a router table. Also, I think a 1 1/2 hp router would make it a tough job. For 1500 bf, can you afford a 3 1/2 hp router?

Cutting tongues and grooves into 1500 ft. of 6" x 3/4" thick white oak with a hand held router is going to be way more work and time than I would want to invest. You will go through a few bits for sure. The correct and safest way to approach this is to use a quality shop shaper with 2+ hp. at least, a very solid base, outfeed rollers, feather boards and jigs to guide the wood and keep it flat and straight while cutting the profiles.



and cutters similar to these for flooring